


Talking it Out

by Dinonid123



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Animal Crossing - Freeform, Asgoriel, But some angst too because comfort is good, F/M, This is gonna be a lot of fluff, Undertale AU, don’t ask why bc I don’t know either, yeah I fanon Asgore and Gerson as having dated before they met toriel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-05-04 16:39:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14597217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinonid123/pseuds/Dinonid123
Summary: At the urging of an old friend, Asgore finally goes to talk to Toriel, sooner than he ever expected to. A fluffy Asgoriel fic set in a timeline where after the third soul is collected, Asgore reunites with Toriel.





	1. Getting Motivation

“Aww, just go talk to her, Az! I’m sure that now that you two aren’t in such shock, you can get her to listen to reason.” Gerson’s words rang around in my head as I walked through Waterfall.

“You really think that I can convince her? She was... pretty angry at me when she left...” I had responded.

“Yeah! You two’ve been the most obnoxiously adorable couple under here until a few years ago. As annoying as it was...” he had sighed, and I’d smiled a bit in response. “You were happy. You haven’t been yourself since your kids...” He’d trailed off and sighed. “I know you can never be as happy as you were, but I know that, with her help... you two can work together and try.”

“Ok... I’m... I’m going to go and try to talk to her.”

“There ya go, Az!”

“I’m gonna go talk to her, and she’ll forgive me, and we can hold hands and laugh and... and talk, and... smile, and... I... I can be happy again...” I had started laughing nervously, my brain stuttering to process what I was going to do. Gerson smiled and put his finger up against my face and moved it across my cheek.

“Hey, what’re you doing?”

“You’re crying, Asgore.” I then realized that I was and wiped my eyes.

“Well then... I’m going to go. Thank you for talking to me, Gers.” 

“No problem, old Az.” He smiled at me. I smiled back and gave him a small shove. 

“Says old Gers!” We laughed and said goodbye, and I set off towards Home.

 

As I finished replaying the events in my head, I entered Snowdin. A few residents came up to say howdy, and as I responded to them, my mind wandered elsewhere. Would she really listen to me? I knew from the day we met that she was stubborn, but it’d never caused us to have a fight like we did that day. It hurt to recall. Her anger, my anger, our grief... it had been welled up for days and it was finally given a chance to be released. My hand subconsciously went to the side of my arm where she’d burned me with a fireball. As she ran off, I tried to follow her but she sent a few flames my way. I was so taken aback that I couldn’t disperse them. I just took them, fell to my knees, and watched her run. She’d hurt me. She’d intentionally hurt me. I knew where she was going. The Ruins was the farthest she could go. And yet, until now, I never bothered to venture there. I never had the confidence. But with Gerson’s encouragement, I realized how sick I was of being alone. I needed to talk to her. I needed to know if we were really done. If I needed to move on. If I needed to get over my best friend.

I’d walked farther into Snowdin Forest than I ever had since she left.

I could see the walls of the Ruins.

I can see the door.

The snow is crunching beneath my feet, and the needles of the trees around me are shaking.

The door is in front of me. 

I reach for the doorknob.

I twist it.

I open the door.

 

The purple of the Ruins hasn’t changed in the years since I was last here. I walk along the corridor up to Home. My soul was beating like mad. She was at the end of this hallway. Up the stairs, and there she’d be. The corridor seemed to be infinitely long. I’d been walking for minutes when I saw the stairs. Okay. I was doing this. I walked up the stairs and entered Home, my old home. It was as bright as I remember, unlike the grays of New Home. I heard the fire crackling. She was around the corner. She was relaxing. Do I dare disturb her? Yes, you have to. Nothing will change if you don’t. I took a deep breath and stepped forward. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” I heard her get up, and walk toward the foyer. Oh gods this was happening. Oh gods.

“Dreemurr?” She scowled, scorn and contempt in her voice. 

“T...Tori... Toriel.”


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Asgore has confronted Toriel, how long until someone starts crying and I get over the hard part of writing this?

“You have some nerve showing your face around here, Dreemurr.” Toriel’s bright red eyes stared directly into mine, likely judging my soul for my actions.  
“Have you decided to tell me that I’m right? Repent for your declaration of war against the humans? Try to win me back?” She fired the questions at me, not giving me time to answer until she finished.

“Toriel, I understand why you hate me so much. You have every right to do so. But I came here to apologize and explain why I did what I did, alright?”

“Fine.” She sighed and rolled her eyes.  
“Try and convince me that what you did was in any way justified. Let’s go sit down.” She walked over to her reading chair and I followed her and sat at the table.

“Thank you, Toriel. I know I don’t deserve this chance to talk to you and— “

“Get. To it. Dreemurr,” she growled.

“Alright, alright. Okay. When Asriel and Chara died, I was angry. I was angry that my kids had been taken away from me. I was angry that the humans stole my family away from me again. I was angry that my children went to the surface to save us, that they only wanted to help, and that my son, our son, was _killed_ for that.”

“I was angry too, Asgore! I didn’t decide to declare war on the humans, so clearly it was not the only reaction!”

“I know, Toriel! But I’m the king! I’m the one everyone looks to! They all wanted me to tell them what to do now that their hopes were dashed, and the first idea I came up with was taking revenge on the people that killed our son! I was grieving, Toriel, I wasn’t working with my full mental capacity. None of us were. But they liked it. Everyone liked the plan. Everyone wanted the humans to suffer after all that they did. They trapped us down here. They killed their prince, our son. They wanted them to get comeuppance. I had the misfortune of voicing it and being the king.”

“Then why would you not turn back? You accepted the idea. You didn’t fight it.”

“I liked the idea at first. Only after you left did I calm down and realize what an idiot I was. If you didn’t like it, why didn’t you fight it?” Toriel’s eyes widened, and her steel-faced facade broke. 

“I... I... I figured that... I could never convince them... I...” She rested her head on her shoulder and blushed.  
“I would be going against the tide. Even though I was the queen, I couldn’t go against my people.”

“Oh, so you abandoned them? You abandoned me? You just left, without trying to help or do anything.” 

“Asgore, I... I... I wanted to protect the humans, okay?”

“You could have done that as queen! But you abdicated, you left and you didn’t try to change anything, you didn’t wait for us to calm down, you just left! You couldn’t even protect them! You let them come through, so I had to take their Souls. Did you honestly think I wanted to kill anyone? You know me, Toriel! You know that I’d never want to do that! Especially to children! Do you know how much it hurt me to... to hurt them... I...” Tears were running down my face, and the faces of the three humans in their last moments were flashing through my mind.  
“I don’t want this Toriel... I want us to be free, I want to have my family again, I...” I buried my face in my paws and kept crying. 

“Asgore... I... Gorey...” I heard her chair move, and the next thing I know, she had hugged me and started crying herself. “You’re right. I... I did abandon you. I’m... I thought... I was deluding myself that, that you wanted to hurt them... I wanted to be right, but, I’m sorry... I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking, I...” 

She sniffled and pulled away from me. I pulled my head out from my paws and looked at her worriedly. She looked at me back, her eyes still wet, and sighed again. She nervously moved her paw and grabbed my hand, and pulled it toward her. She suddenly looked up at me, startled. 

“When’d you get this burn? You didn’t have this when I left...” Her voice was now full of concern, and I could tell she already knew the answer.

“That is from you, Toriel. When you ran off. You threw fire balls at me. I was too shocked to block them. I didn’t even realize it burned me for a few minutes, because I was so confused, and angry, and... overwhelmed.” The tears starting dripping down her face again. 

“I knew it. I knew that I hurt you. I burned you. And all you did was what people wanted, and I burned you for it.”

“Tori, we were both out of our right minds, it’s not a big deal. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” 

“Asgore, I hurt you! I hurt my husband, as I abandoned him and left him to kill humans. I left him to do the thing I knew he would hate doing and I left my people, because I’m a stupid stubborn idiot.”

“Tori, Tori, you’re not an idiot... You had every right to be mad at me, okay? I’ve done something awful, and I regret it so much, and I’m so sorry for what I did to them. But please, just, forgive me.” I took her hand and held it up, wiping the tears off her face. 

“Heh...” She laughed weakly and nuzzled against my hand.  
“Took you 10 minutes to get me to stop being mad at you, you adorable oaf. Of course I forgive you, and if you would forgive me for being so stubborn?”

“Of course, dear. Would you like to return to being their queen? We’re going to have a new plan in the kingdom and I think the people will transition better if they had their queen back.” I smiled at her, and she returned it. 

“Of course, my king.” We laughed together for a second.

“Welcome back, my queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The people on the Asgoriel discord have remarked that they want a slow burn where Asgore and Toriel slowly rebuild their relationship. I think that’s a great idea.
> 
> But I’m lazy and that sounds like it’d take a while so I’m getting right to the good stuff in this, sorry guys love y’all <3<3.
> 
> Anyway, you’re reading this, which means I had my monthly burst of writing motivation. School gets out soon, so hopefully it will be more common over the summer? I’m not sure, but I will try to update this if I can (and my Khino fic, that’s also still a thing that I will keep writing).
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Talking Over Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel has forgiven Asgore, but what are they gonna do about the kingdom now?

“So, now we need a new plan that doesn’t involve murder.” Toriel stood up and walked over to the kitchen and began fumbling around in the cabinet. “Would you mind making us some tea to drink while we talk?” 

“Oh, sure. Do you still have tea? I would think that you would have gotten rid of anything that reminded you of me....” My voice trailed off. 

“Well... I found myself wanting tea but when I tried to make it...” She chuckled a bit. “Gods, it was awful. Nothing like yours. And that’s all I wanted. Of course, my mind decided that that was just an old habit and that I didn’t actually miss you, because it was stubborn and stupid. But yes, I have tea.... right... here!” She stood up and triumphantly held up a container of tea bags. 

“Well, it’s tea, I guess.” I walked over to the kitchen, took the container, and began looking for the old tea set. “I’m assuming you didn’t throw the tea set away, hopefully?”

“Oh, gods no. It’s your family’s right? I wouldn’t get rid of it. It’s... in the upper right cabinet, I think.” I went to that cabinet and looked around for a sec before finding it behind some old sippy cups. 

“Ah, here it is.” I set to work making the tea. Even though I was looking away, I could feel Toriel stare at my back. Once I had set the water to boil, I turned back to her, just barely seeing her quickly snap her face back to the table. “Is something wrong, Toriel?” She bit her lip and muttered,

“I... forgot how your tail swishes around when you make tea. You always are more relaxed when you’re doing it, I guess you don’t realize you’re doing it. I was just... looking at it... and remembering when we...” She trailed off and looked down. I knew what she was thinking of. Before the kids died, we would always have family tea. It hurt to think of that year, when we were a family of four. It had all ended so abruptly and painfully that... these happy memories now brought only sadness, to both of us, it seems. 

“Asgore, are you crying?” Toriel’s concerned voice pierced my thoughts.

“I...” I rubbed my eyes with my finger hurriedly, and turned back to the boiling water. “No, no, I’m alright, de—“ I stopped myself before calling her “dear”. As happy and close as I had felt as we were hugging earlier, I knew that was from emotional overload. I didn’t want to test her just yet.

“Asgore, it hurts me to think about it too.” 

“I know.”

“Then don’t hold back. I know it’s been a while, and we’ve been really emotional for the past few minutes, but just... keep it going.” I took a deep breath. She wanted me to let it out? Alright then.

“I’m not sure what to think of this, Toriel.”

“What do you mean by ‘this’?”

“This sudden change in tone between us. I don’t know if it’s the emotion of reunion after so long or if we actually feel this way. Last time we talked with strong emotions outside of our control it... didn’t end well.” I turned back to put the tea bags in as Toriel thought of her response.

“Asgore, I’ve been riding my stubbornness for the past 15 years, seeing you again just snapped me out of it.”

“But what if it comes back? What if you get mad at me again? Are we really that weak together now? I don’t want to lose you again, Toriel. We’re the only family we have left.”

“We were weak before, Asgore, not now. I think we’re a bit more stable now than a few days after our children died.”

"But what if that's irrelevant? What if we're just... not compatible now?”

"Asgore, don't be so silly. Why would we suddenly just stop being happy together now, after nearly a millennia?” I was surprised that she said that. How could she ask that, she was the one who...

“I don’t know, Toriel, you were the one who ran out on me.” I blurted out, slightly sarcastically. Toriel looked at me, surprised, before laughing nervously.

“You got me there, Dreemurr... hah...” She sighed and rested her face in her paw. “Oh gods, that was a stupid thing to say.”

“Well, at least you recognize that now, Toriel.” I laughed gently. “So you aren’t stupid. You’re just stubborn.” 

“Too stubborn for my own good, apparently.” She laughed sarcastically. “So stubborn I forgot what my own husband is like.”

“Well, have you been reminded now?” I took the tea off the stove and poured it into cups, put them on a platter and returned to the table. 

“Oh, yes, I have. You’re a softie who likes to make tea and doesn’t want to hurt people unless they hurt his family. And your family got hurt. And then the only one left hurt you more. And you just kept hurting yourself for your people. And what did I do?” 

“Toriel...” 

“Hurt you, then run away to protect humans, then completely fail at that! And now what?” She threw her paws up. “What are we going to do now?”

“Toriel, Toriel, relax.” I grabbed her arms and pulled them back down to the table. “It’s going to be alright. Let’s drink some tea and figure this out, okay?” I looked up at her, and noticed the tears running down her face.

“Yes... yes... we’ll figure it out.” She wiped her face and took a cup of tea. “Alright.” 

“Ok, so there are three souls in New Home. I had the royal scientist make containment units, so we have them indefinitely. What should we do if another human falls down here?”

“Not kill them, we agree on that right?” I nodded.

“Definitely not. We should take them in like we did Chara, if they’re also a child.”

“Yes, if they’re an adult they can handle themselves. But then what? Do we just stay down here?”

“Hmm... maybe we could just wait?” 

“Wait?” She raised an eyebrow.

“If we waited for them to die naturally, we could still collect their souls, right? After the seventh one dies, we could use them to break the barrier, and we’re out of this cave!”

“Hmm... that’s... actually a good idea!” She smiled at me. “It might take a little longer, but no one gets killed and we still leave the Underground!” She punches my shoulder and laughs. “Good job, Gorey!”

“Hah, thanks!” I laugh and rub my shoulder. “Gorey... I missed being called that...”

“Aww... I missed calling you that.” She smiles again, but then takes a deep breath and looks away. “But what about you?”

“What do you mean, Tori?” I looked at her, confused.

“When you absorb the souls to free us... what happens to you?”

“Oh... oh gods I... I never thought about that...” I looked down at my tea and took a sip.

“Will you be able to release them after? Will you be stuck in that... form? W...would you... you...” she stammered and her voice cracked.

“Die?” I looked up at her, her red eyes looking at mine in worry. She nodded. “I don’t know, but...” I pause for a second, pushing away the thoughts of being stuck as some sort of... abomination. “It’s too early to think about that. That’s another 4 falls and a lifetime way. Right now, we need to go tell our people that we are going to once again be accepting of any humans who fall.”

“Do you think anyone will be mad at the reversal?” 

“No, most likely not. If they are, well...”

“We are not going to kill anyone else. No matter what.” Toriel’s voice was stern, and I remembered why her stubbornness was important. When I would be willing to bend to please people, she’d make sure we would stick to our plans. I nodded at her and took her paw in mine. 

“No matter what.” She nodded back and smiled.

“Now, how about we leave these Ruins and go back to my house?” I smirked and gave her a wink. She smirked back.

“Gladly, Fluffybuns.” We were silent for a moment, then broke out laughing. 

“Gods, you haven’t changed at all, Tori.” We stood up and walked over to the basement. 

“Neither have you, you big fluffball.” She poked my snout, and I chuckled in response. We walked together down the basement hallway, and as we approached the door, I took her paw in mine.

“Ready to re-enter our Kingdom, dear?”

“Of course dear. Together.” I pushed open the door to Snowdin Forest.

“Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what an ending! The goat couple has decided on their action plan and are going back into the Underground.


	4. Catching Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On today's chapter, Asgore and Toriel walk through Snowdin on their journey back to New Home. Some issues are talked about.

We walked through the forest together, chatting and laughing as we traversed the winding paths into town. It was almost surreal to see her again, happy and laughing by my side after so many years. At some point my horns bumped into a tree branch and a clump of snow fell on me and knocked me over. Gods, she laughed so hard as she helped me stand up. As she brushed the snow off my mane and kissed my cheek, I could barely even feel the cold over my happiness at having her back and caring for me. 

“Hey, Asgore, do you want to me to evaporate the rest off, or are you going to do that to yourself?” She snapped me out of my trance.

“Oh, uh, yes, I should do that.” I fumbled through my words and snapped, making a thin fire around my upper body to heat up all the snow and evaporate it. It was a trick Toriel’s father had figured out, controlled drying of one’s own body through a quick burst of fire magic that wouldn’t burn clothes or fur, just water. 

“There you go! Come on, we’re almost to Town! Has anything changed?”

“Well, a little. There’s a few new buildings and a pub, but it’s pretty much the same.” 

“Ooh, a pub? What’s it called? Is it any good?”

“It’s called Grillby’s. The owner is a green fire man. I’ve only been there a few times, but it’s been quite good.”

“That’s nice! Maybe we should go there soon!” I laughed slowly.

“Woah, woah, relax dear. You just left the Ruins for the first time in a decade and a half, I think we have more important things to do first.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right. Speaking of which...”

“What?”

“Are... the townspeople going to recognize who I am?” Her voice quavered a bit. “Are Koji and Fumi still.. alive?” Hearing Koji’s name made me flinch.

“Koji... died a few years ago. Fumi was pretty beat up about it. I’ve been visiting him a lot recently. I think the others know of you, but they don’t talk about you when I’m there. They know how it bothered me...” Toriel frowned.

“Oh... oh Koji... gods, Koji... I wasn’t there...” Her eyes began tearing up and buried her head into my chest. I ran my paw over the back of her head. 

“Our friends... I abandoned them... and I never even considered...”

“Shh, shh, Tori, it’s okay...”

“No... no, it’s not. I was so focused on protecting the humans that I forgot my friends...”

“Tori, don’t get mad at yourself. It’s okay. You were being stubborn. Come on, let’s go see Fumi, okay? You wanna do that?” She nodded and looked up at me.

“Let’s go see our blackbird.” I smiled at her and led her into town.

As we passed through town over to the Tokodas’ house, the monsters standing outside came over to us to see me. A few of them inferred that Toriel was the king’s wife that went into hiding through her hugging me, but the others were very confused who the lady who looked like me but shaved and smaller was and why she was hugging the king. She introduced herself to them, and I caught up with them, but I somewhat pushed the conversation along so we could get to Fumi. It felt a bit rude, but I didn’t want to elongate Toriel’s uncomfortableness. I said I’d explain what was happening in a speech at some point soon, so that usually left them content. After half an hour of small talk, we finally made it to his house. I knocked on the door, and a voice from within yelled,

“Come in!” I opened the door and we entered. Fumi was sitting on his black chair, reading a book. He looked over it at us.

“Oh, hello Asgore! How are you...” He paused and his eyes widened. “TORIEL?!” She leaned out from behind me and waved.

“Ha... Hi, Fumi.” He looked back and forth between her and me.

“Asgore, did you actually go talk to her? Good on ya! I’ve been telling you to do that for what, 6 months?” I laughed nervously.

“Haha, yeah, Gers finally convinced me. It went well, as you can see.”

“Yeah it did!” His face fell. “Did... you tell her about...?”

“Koji? Yeah, he did.” Tori interrupted before I could answer. She stepped out and walked over to Fumi. “I’m so sorry, Fumi... I’m sorry I... didn’t get to say goodbye...” He ran his hand through his gray feathers.

“It’s alright, Tori. He... said that he wasn’t mad at you. He just... missed you.” He sighed, then looked up and smiled. “But hey! You’re back! Welcome back to the world, Toriel!”

“Haha, thanks...” She laughed a little, and poked his beak. “At least I get to see you again, ya spooky bird.” He laughs weakly. 

“At least I get to see you again, ya stubborn goat.” She smiled at that.

“So how have you been?” She tried to shift the topic to something less sad, and it worked. The two of them began talking, and I sat down on a chair, watching them talking. They looked happy, seeing their old friend. It was hard not to smile, seeing them talking like no time has passed. And yet. Fumi was now an elderly bird, while Tori looked almost the same. It was something that still bothered me, even after centuries of not aging. For us, having friends was something that would always end in grieving. Of course, that never stopped us from making more. It was a trap we fell into repeatedly, but we never regretted. 

“Asgore, do you have the box for Toriel?” Fumi snapped me out of my thoughts. 

“Oh, uh, yes, back at New Home.”

“Alright then Toriel, you can read it when you get home!” He smiled at Tori as she turned toward me.

“Great! Let’s go then, Asgore!” She turned back to Fumi and gave him a tight hug. “It was good to see you again, Fumi.” 

“Heh... good to see again.. too, Toriel...” He chirped. “Toriel you’re squishing me please stop.” She laughed nervously and pulled back.

“Sorry, sorry Fumi! I just... really missed you.” He smiled.

“It’s alright, Toriel. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, so you can come squeeze the life out of me whenever.” He laughed at his own joke. She laughed back. 

“Got it, Fumi. See you soon.” She walked over to me and took my hand.  
“So where to next, in my reintroduction tour of the Underground?”

“Well, Gerson encouraged me to talk to you, so let’s go see him.” We waved to Fumi and walked out of his house. 

“Yeah, let’s go see our favorite turtle!”

“Tori, he’s the only turtle we know.”

“Yeah, so? He’s still our favorite.” She smiled and kissed my cheek. “Right?” I laughed.

“Well, you aren’t wrong, I guess.” We kept talking as we walked over toward Waterfall. A few more people came up to us, and we talked to them as before, but Toriel seemed to be in a better mood and less anxious to move on, so I didn’t try to end the conversation quickly. By the time we got to the edge of Waterfall, my legs were getting a bit tired, and I figured Toriel’s were as well.

“Hey, do you want to go sit down? I’m sure your legs must be a bit worn out by now, and Gerson’s a ways into Waterfall…”

“Oh gods yes, my legs are killing me.”

“Great, let’s find a bench.”

“Gorey, there’s one five feet behind us.” I turned around.

“Oh. So there is.” Tori laughed and sat down. I sat down next to her and she rested her head on my shoulder.

“So… what’s new in the kingdom? What’d I miss?”

“Oh, not much. I had to kill three kids, one of our friends died, and I’ve had to pretend that I wasn’t dying inside for the last few years after losing my whole family.” I gave a small chuckle. “Ya know, nothing important.”

“Asgore!” I turned to her, and she looked up at me full of concern. “How are you joking about that?” 

“Well, it helps with the pain. Joking about it. Makes me feel slightly better.” 

“You just joked to me about having emotional issues and you act like it’s nothing?” Her voice is quavering. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Toriel, think about that question.”

“Oh…Oh fuck, I did it again…” She trails off and brings her legs on the bench, moving away from me. “Gods I fucked up.”

“Tori, it’s fine. You were just–”

“No, it’s not fine!” She interrupted me before I could finish. “I hurt you, Asgore! I made a stupid decision because you made a stupid decision because our children died, and I need to take responsibility for that! I left you, I burnt you, I ran away from my problems, and now look. You’re joking about your issues like it’s funny, and Koji’s dead, and I didn’t even KNOW because I had to lock myself away! And now… now we have to deal with this. We did stupid things. Now we have to… we have to figure this out and…” She paused, the tears that had welled up as she spoke finally falling down her face. “And… we’re gonna do this together… because even though… I wasn’t there for you then…” She wiped her eyes and looked directly at me. “I’m here for you now. Because I love you, Asgore Dreemurr, and I will not let you break.” 

“I.. Wow…” I was surprised at her impassioned monologue, and I struggled to think of a good response. “I… love you too, Toriel Dreemurr. I… gods I love you…” My mind was an incoherent mess of thoughts, and all I could make of it was that there is no one more amazing than her. 

“Gods, Fluffybuns, I already failed at that and broke you, didn’t I?” She laughed and wiped the last tears off her cheeks, then leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“Y…yes, you did, dear. You... lovely, wonderful monster.” I took her in my arms, pulled her against me and kissed her. I had been scared to do anything more than a peck before but by the gods did I not care at that point. Toriel seemed surprised, but she fell into it and wrapped her arms around my neck, running her paw through my hair. It was a bit rough after so long, but we found our way back to what worked. It felt wonderful to kiss her again, to just be happy with her, with my Tori. She pulled away and laughed, blushing heavily.

“Gods, I missed that, Gorey.” I laughed back and pulled her into my chest.

“I did too, dear. So much.” She nuzzled against my neck and I rubbed my paw up and down her back. We sat there for a while, hugging and enjoying each other’s warmth. Eventually Tori jerked back and looked up at me.

“Wait, weren’t we going to see Gerson?” 

“Oh yeah, we were… guess I forgot. We should probably go do that.” We laughed and stood up. I took her paw and we walked across the bridge into Waterfall, smiling and happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, is that another chapter in a understandable amount of time????? Heck yeah it is. Koji and Fumi are (obviously) referencing my BNHA OTP of Koji Koda and Fumikage Tokoyami, and when I needed a couple for the goats to know who lived in Snowdin, they crossed my mind first. Deal with it, I guess. 
> 
> These chapters are getting steadily longer yet I'm writing them faster. This is not because I'm getting better, I'm just actually spending time writing them.
> 
> Thanks for reading more of my silly Asgoriel fluff fic (now ft. immortal angst).


	5. Through the Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Royal Couple finally gets to Gerson.

We walked through Waterfall slowly, looking around at the blue water and sparkling crystals above us. Toriel stopped to listen to every Echo Flower as we passed by them, seemingly trying to find any flowers that hadn’t changed since she was last here. 

“Tori? I think that someone has talked in front of all of these in over decade.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically.

“I realize that, Asgore. I just want to know what people have been talking about.”

“Same as always. Sick of being down here, wishing to be free.”

“That appears to be the case. I know one which hasn’t changed, though.”

“Well… actually…” I trailed off.

“You went there to cry, didn’t you?” 

“… ”

“Asgore, your silence tells me everything I need to know.”

“I was just walking over to Snowdin when I saw the path, I…” I sighed, resigned. “I went over to our hideout to cry for a bit. I have no idea why I thought going to our secret pool would make me feel better about you leaving, but…”

“Aww, it’s fine, dear.” She hugged me from behind and nuzzled my shoulder. “The last thing we talked about there was Asriel’s birthday, and having to hear us about that without knowing what was to come…” She let out a weak laugh.

“Gods, our lives have been weird, Tori.”

“Yes, they have. We’ll have to make some better memories there, right?” She pushed some seductiveness into her voice, and I blushed.

“Oh, of course, Tori… but that should wait until after we get back into things, right?”

“Right, right. Now let’s get to Gerson’s before we get distracted again.” I nodded, and she stopped hugging me and moved to my side, taking my hand and leading me down the path. We walked over the old bridge and right up to Gerson’s shop. 

“He still hasn’t made the door taller?” Toriel asked, gesturing at the door to his shop. There were marks on top from all the times I’d walked through it ducking and bumped my horns on the edge. I’d been asking him to fix it for about 500 years, and he still claims that he forgets about it every time I ask.

“Are you surprised? I laughed. “I think I might as well give up, unless I’m going to do it myself.” Toriel smiled and poked my arm.

“You think you can remember to duck, then?”

“Maybe I can, maybe I can’t. We’ll see.” Toriel laughed and walked over to the door.

“Alright then, I guess I’ll have to guide you. Now, you need to walk to the door, but then bend forward before you reach it so you don’t chip your horns.” I laughed and followed her instructions, turning around once I was inside.

“Okay, did I do it right?” She smiled and walked through it herself. 

“You did great, Fluffybuns.” There was a large cough behind us.

“Well, looks like you two did some talking.” Gerson laughed and walked over from behind his counter. 

“Gerson!” Toriel and I shouted in unison as we hugged the old turtle.

“Alright, alright, don’t break me! I’m not as used to your hugs as I was!” He laughed and pushed us off him.

“Sorry, Gerson. It’s been a while.” Toriel laughed nervously and looked away.

“It’s fine, Toriel. As for you, Asgore… I told you so!” He chuckled and punched my arm. He smiled and gently punched him back.

“Yes you did. All we needed to do was talk, and it took you years to convince me of that.” I covered my face with my paw. “Gods I’m such an idiot.”

“Yes, you kind of are. But that’s one of the things we love about you, Asgore.” 

“You’re our dork, Gorey.” Toriel laughed and ruffled my mane.

“Aww… I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or insult, but I accept it anyway.” 

“It’s a bit of both, really.”

“Gerson! It’s a compliment!” Toriel scolded Gerson. “He’s been through enough!”  
“Tori, it’s fine. He’s just teasing.”

“You’ve known me for almost 900 years, Toriel, you know I’d never be mean to our favorite Boss Monster.” Gerson chuckled.

“I thought the same about myself, look how that turned out!” Toriel raised her voice as she spoke, and Gerson recoiled in surprise.

“Toriel… It’s…”

“It’s what, Gerson? What can you say about what I did? What have I not done wrong?” Gerson looked at her, his face full of worry, and thought. I wanted to say something, but I was unable to think of anything that would help.

“You can’t hold it over yourself, Toriel. You made a mistake, but clearly Asgore’s forgiven you. You have to get over it before you let it fester and you explode again.” Gerson spoke sternly, but I could tell he was concerned underneath it. 

“I… Damn, Gerson.” Toriel sighed and laughed. “You really are the wisest one of all of us. Maybe aging helped you with that.” Gerson shrugged.

“Maybe you two were just too busy. You’ve done a lot for everyone down here. You’ve barely had any vacation time from being King and Queen. I think that almost a millennium of stress probably wasn’t good for you. You always had each other to relax with, so you never broke until the kids died and pushed you too far. Maybe that’s why you stayed in the Ruins, Toriel. It was the first time you weren’t directly responsible for anyone in centuries.” Gerson finished his spiel, and Toriel and I looked at each other, then him, then back to each other. 

“Gerson, when the hell did you become a therapist? Specializing in us?” I said, surprised.

“I had a decade and a half to think about why my best friends broke apart. I thought about it a lot.”

“How are you so nonchalant about this, Gerson?” Toriel laughed. “You’re telling the King and Queen where all their emotional problems come from like it’s nothing!”

“Seriously, have you been studying us for the last few centuries?” 

“Are you just going to be surprised or are you actually going to talk about what I’ve said?” He gestured between us, prompting us to speak.

“Okay then.” Toriel turned to me and sighed. “I fucked up, Asgore. I was too stubborn to think about what you said, and I was so… sad about the kids’ death. I took it out on you and…” She gestured to my burned arm. “I hurt you. I’m so sorry.”

“And I forgive you for that, Toriel. We both fucked up. I made a silly declaration in anger. I wanted revenge on the humans after all they’ve done to us. They killed our parents, they trapped us down here, and they killed our son. I wanted someone, anyone to pay for what we’ve had to endure. I wanted them to be in pain, I wanted them to know what we’ve been through. And then, when you called me out… I felt like you were betraying me. That you were telling me that I was a bad person. Which, looking back, I was, but that’s besides the point. I made you want to leave. I made you think that I really wanted to hurt innocent people. You had every right to be mad at me. I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you, Asgore.Now we can… move on from this, right?” She held her hand out.

“Yes. We can try this ‘freeing monsters’ thing again, better this time.” I shook her hand and smiled.

“There ya go, lover goats! Now please don’t kiss in front of me, I need some time to ease into you two being obnoxiously adorable again, alright?” Toriel and I laughed.

“Yeah, got it, Gerson. So how have you been?” Toriel and I caught up more with him for another half an hour before we finally left.

“I’ll see you two at our next therapy session next week!” Gerson said as he waved us off. Toriel and I laughed.

“I’ll make sure we’re on time!” Toriel replied as we ducked through the door. As soon as we were out of sight, I gave Tori a quick kiss on the cheek.

“There, he couldn’t see that, right?” Toriel giggled and kissed my cheek back.

“Nope. So do you want to go along the mushroom path or should we take the riverboat?” 

“Hmm… Riverboat. I want to get to New Home as soon as possible so we can announce that you’re back.” 

“And so that I can make you some pie?”

“Oh gods you know me so well, Tori. I’ve been dying without your pie.” Toriel laughed.

“I bet you have been. What kind?”

“Cinnamon Butterscotch, of course!” I smiled.

“Of course it is.” She smiled back and booped my snout. “Come on, we still have to go through Hotland to get there.”

“Oh no, they finished the elevator straight up to New Home. We can just take that.”  
“Oh thank the gods, I am not in the mood to walk through somewhere so hot right now.”

“I agree, Tori.”

We walked down onto the River Person’s boat.

“Tra la la, where are the Royals headed today?”

“Hotland, please.” The boat took off, and I hugged Toriel.

“We’re almost home, Tori.”

“Almost, Gorey. Almost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in like, 2 days after I realized that I had completely forgotten to write more because school. If it feels a bit rushed, that's why. Because of school, these chapters will probably continue being posted at random intervals.  
> Anyhoo, the couple finally talked to their Ol' Turtle, and now they're heading home. I actually started replaying Undertale so I could remember how Waterfall was laid out. It turns out, it's really confusingly. So, I put a bridge over the disproportionately small gap. That makes things simpler.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	6. Finally (New) Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reunited royals finally make it back home.

After arriving at the Hotland stop, we hopped off the boat and thanked the River Person. We turned around and walked up the stairs into Hotland. We moved to just holding hands, as it was too hot for us, two big furry monsters, to be any closer without melting. I led her straight towards the elevator, and pressed the button. When it opened up, I moved to the side and bowed deeply.

“Ladies first, my dear.” Toriel laughed and walked in.

“Oh, what a gentleman! How kind of you.” She smirked. ‘Now stop stalling and get in here.” 

“Patience, Tori! I waited 15 years to go and talk to you, you can wait five seconds for me to enter the elevator.” I walked in, pressed the button for the Capital, and the elevator began moving. 

“Sorry, Gorey, I’m just so excited to go home. It’s been so long, and I just… can’t wait to be back.”

“Aww, Tori, I can’t wait for you to be back either!” I leaned over and kissed Toriel’s forehead. She laughed and kissed my cheek back. 

“Gods, I missed you so much. I was forgetting how damn sweet you are.” She looked up at me and brushed the hair out of my face, staring into my eyes. “Why did I _ever_ think I could make myself hate you?”

“I don’t know, dear. I’m glad that you couldn’t, though. Gods, if you really hated me…” I looked to the side and sighed, then smiled and looked back. “Good thing you love me so much~” Toriel laughed and booped my nose. 

“Good thing you didn’t give up on me.”

“I could never! I could never give up my beautiful rose!” Toriel smiled and moved closer to my face.

“And I could never give up on my handsome daffodil.” We laughed softly in unison, and I took Tori’s cheek in my paw.

“I love you, dear.”

“I love you too.” We kissed, softly at first, but as we were melting into it we were interrupted by the elevator stopping and the ding of the bell. Toriel pulled back in surprise.

“Gods, that was sudden. I think I forgot that we’re in an elevator.”

“I think I did as well. To be fair, it is a long elevator. Now let’s leave before the door closes on us.”

“Good idea.” We stepped out of the elevator. Toriel took a deep breath as she looked around. “Wow… the Capital’s really grown, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it really has. Dr. Gaster’s done quite a lot in your absence.”

“That candidate for the royal scientist? The skeleton one?” I nodded.

“He was promising even as an 18 year-old. After he took the position when he turned 23, he’s been innovating at almost everything. He’s working on something he calls the CORE, it’s supposed to make out geothermal plant more efficient. He’s already upped the production, that’s why we’ve been able to grow so much, 100 years of him working and we’re gonna start running low on space up here.”

“Hunh. I’ve missed… a lot.” She slumped over. “I have a lot to catch up on, don’t I?” I chuckled and rubbed her back.

“Don’t worry dear, I’ll ease you back into this if you want. We have to ease the population into our new plan as well, so you’re not gonna be alone.” She looked over at me and smiled weakly. 

“Alright. Thank you… for being so understanding of my confusion.”

“What do you expect, Tori? I’m not going to get mad at you for being out of it after a decade and a half.”

“But nothing’s ever… changed so much… so suddenly…” 

“It’s not sudden. You just weren’t here to see it happen. For you, the Capital was just mourning their prince and princen. You couldn’t exactly see progress from the Ruins.”

“I know, it’s just… odd.”

“I know, dear. Now come on! Let’s go into the castle so we can relax for a bit! I have something I want to show you!” I grabbed her paw and pulled her along and running into the castle.

“A… Asgore!” Toriel laughed and stumbled a bit before catching up to me and keeping pace. We made our way past the various halls and meeting rooms to New Home. I slowed down as we approached the front of my… _our_ home. I looked to Toriel, and aside from looking a bit out of breath, I could tell her emotions were welling up.

“Tori…?” She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

“Gods, it’s been… too long, dear. I missed here.”

“It’s being missing a part without you. It’s the Dreemurr family home. Not just mine.” She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. 

“It’ll still be missing them.”

‘I know… but until we figure out how to bring them back…” I squeezed her paw, and took a deep breath. “At least it’ll have two.”

“For any human that falls… this will be their home too.” She squeezed my paw back. “They won’t be Asriel or Chara, but…”

“They’ll be cared for. Until they pass.” Toriel nodded and nuzzled against my neck.

“I’m ready to go in. I think… I can make a reunion pie.” I nuzzled back against her head and smiled.

“I’d love that, Tori. First, I need to show you my town, though!”

“Town? I’ve seen our kingdom, Gorey. What in the world do you mean?”

“Well, there’s this thing that I found in the dump and… oh I’ll just show you!” I led her into the house, and into the living room. I plopped down on the couch in front of the TV, and pulled out the Switch.

“Gorey, what… is that?”

“It’s a Switch! Remember the Wii that Chara found? This is a later version of that! And look what game I found with it!” I fiddled with the controls. They took a bit of getting used to, with my big paws and all. “Tada! Animal Crossing!”

“Animal Crossing?”

“Yeah! You get to play as the mayor of a town of cute animal monsters! You talk to them and become friends!” I smiled and waved the controller around. “It’s really sweet! I… I was feeling particularly lonely and went for a walk in the dump. I found it unopened on a pile. Playing it… it made me feel really… loved. It’s just so pure and sweet.”

“Aww, that’s… really adorable, dear. It seems like it helped you.”

“It did… I love all my villagers so much, I… uh… gods this is somewhat embarrassing… I cried when I missed a few days because I was too tired to get out of bed, and one of my villagers left. I really miss Kidd. He was even a goat!”

“Oh… uh… that sounds sad, dear?” She sighs. “Sorry, I need to see this to understand.”

“Oh… yes, that would help.” I laughed nervously and opened my town. “See, this is my town, Dreemurrville. Everyone’s houses are around the town. Mine’s by the river.” Toriel stifled a laugh. “Wha-at?” I asked jokingly.

“Dreemurrville? I would expect you to name it Town or something!”

“Well, uh… That was my first idea, but I wanted it to be cooler.” I laughed and poked her arm. “See, I can make creative names sometimes!”

“Don’t get _too_ cocky, dear. It’s not _that_ creative. It’s our last name and a town suffix.”

“Aww, come on Tori, don’t ruin it.” She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, dear. The game seems cute, though!”

“It is! It’s been really helpful for keeping me sane. Now, weren’t you going to make some pie?” 

“Oh, yes, I was!” She stood up and walked over to the kitchen. “Do you still have everything?”

“Yeah, should be in the same places!”

“Okay, thanks!” I could hear her rummaging around the kitchen, pulling out the bowls and ingredients. I continued to play, checking on my villagers and rearranging the flowers around Town Hall. After a couple minutes, Toriel shouted, “Asgore? What’s with the crumpled papers in the trash?” 

“Oh… those are butterscotch-cinnamon pie recipes. I tried to recreate your pie but… it wasn’t very good.”

“Aww! That’s really sad! You really need some of my pie, don’t you?”

“It’s been 15 years Toriel, I may soon perish from withdrawal from your perfect pie.” I hear her laugh from the other room.

“Well, I guess I need to hurry up to keep you alive!” I stifled a laugh.

“Please, Tori, I can feel my strength fading… If I don’t have any pie in the hour, I don’t think I’ll make it…” I said, trying to make my voice sound strained and weak.

“Oh no! I shall hurry up, so I can save you, my love!” She laughed again. After half an hour, she came rushing in with a slice of pie. “Here, my husband! Quickly, before it’s too late!”

“Ahh… thank you, my dear…” I took the pie and took a bite. A rush of emotions came over me. It was even better than I remembered, it was _perfect._

“Asgore? Are you… crying?” I looked up at her in surprise. Oh. I was.

“Yes… it’s just… so good… it’s been so long…”

“Aww…” She ruffled my hair. “Well, now that I’m back, I’ll make you pie whenever you want!” I took a big sniff and looked up at her with watery eyes.

“Gods, Tori, you are the best ever, I love you so much, please never leave me again.” She sat down on the couch next to me.

“I promise, Gorey. Never again.” She smiled and kissed me. “I’m sticking with my King Fluffybuns.” I let out a soft laugh.

“And I’ll make sure my Queen Fluffybuns is happy forever.” I kissed her back, then gave a quick nose nuzzle. “We’re gonna take our title back, right?” She smirked and wrapped her arms around me. I could see the blush spreading across her face, and I knew the same was happening to me.

“Of course. We’re the best fucking nose nuzzlers in the Underground.” I gasped in mock surprise.

“Language, Tori! We’re the best fucking nose nuzzlers in the _whole. Damn. World._ ” We laughed in unison and Tori booped my nose. 

“Gods, we’re such teenagers.”

“Yes we are, dear. Is it not fun, though?”

“Oh, it is. This is the happiest I’ve been in years.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh writing is hard! Sorry for the wait, for anyone who's keeping up with this (I'm surprised and happy you exist).
> 
> The idea of Asgore as mayor of an Animal Crossing town has been floating around the Asgoriel discord for a while now, and I decided this was how I could work it in. I feel like Asgore would find some cool stuff in the dump whenever he goes to check on those flowers. As for the layout of New Home, I'm just tweaking the canon layout and making it a bit more fleshed out (without regards for the limits of pixels and the fact that the path in UT is one big line). Also, Gaster exists! He'll show up himself eventually. Princen is just the word I came up with for gender-neutral prince/princess for NB Chara.
> 
> This might be the last fluff chapter for a few chapters, as they gotta do the serious stuff now. Thanks for reading! (Comments are appreciated!)


	7. In Remembrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel and Asgore remember a loved one.

I shifted around in Asgore’s arms, cuddling up against his warmth. He was just as fluffy and homey as ever. I watched him play his game and asked a few questions, which he excitedly answered. It must have been another 20 minutes before he put it down. 

“Alright dear, what would you like to do now?”

“Hmm… didn’t Fumi say there was something for me to read here?” Asgore inhaled sharply.

“Oh… yes… Koji left you something for… for when you came back. I guess now that you have… you can read it.” He sighed and got up. “Come on, it’s in the study.” I stood up and placed my paw on his shoulder. 

“Are you alright, Gorey?”

“Yes, yes… I’m just thinking of what he left me.”

“What?”

“It said not to tell you until you read yours.”

“Oh… alright.” We walked down the hallway. I stayed close to him, hugging his arm closely. We stopped in front of the study door, which had a piece of paper with writing on it. He pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked it.

“Why’d you lock the study? For…” I looked at the writing. “Renovations? Oh…” A realization dawned on me, and I began laughing.

“What?” He looked at me, confused.

“You put all of my things in there, didn’t you?”

“Ye…” He stopped and looked at me in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I did the same thing with the study in Home! We had the same idea!” 

“Oh, really?” He laughed gently. “We really are soulmates, aren’t we?”

“Yes, yes we are.”

“Well, guess I don’t need this paper anymore.” He took the paper off and entered the study and began looking around. I peeked in, standing in the doorway. The bookshelves and mementos which normally lined every wall had been pushed away from one corner, which had a pile of my clothes and some trinkets on top.

“So where is it?”

“Hmm… I think…” He rummaged around on the desk, which had been covered in remembrances for old friends for about a century and a half. “Should be here… I put it near Thiren’s… right?”

“Are you just talking to yourself, or…?”

“Yes, dear, I just… OH! It’s in the pile of your things, obviously!” He slapped his face.

“Woah, don’t hurt yourself, dear!”

“Ah, don’t worry Tori, I’m alright.” He walked over to my pile, and picked up a box from the top. “Here.”

“That’s pretty small.” He nodded and handed it to me.

“Just open it. There’s a letter inside. I’ll leave you alone to read it. If you need me… I’ll be in our room, okay? Meet me when you’re done.” He sighed and began to leave when I grabbed his arm.

“Asgore, are you alright? You seem… very off.” He looked up at me weakly, and I could see tears welling up in his eyes.

“I’m just… thinking about his letter for me. He was always a good writer, but…” He trailed off, and paused for a few seconds. “He really put a lot in it. I’m sure you’ll understand in a few minutes.” I wiped his eyes with my finger and kissed his cheek. 

“Alright dear. I’ll go read this in the living room, okay?”

“Okay, Tori.” He walked over into the bedroom. I watched him close the door, waited a few seconds, then headed the other way to the living room. It was then I noticed all the yellow flowers he had in pots along the hallway. They were certainly doing better than the ones in Home. They also seemed to be the only spots of color in the house. All the other decorations were gray or put away. I wonder if it was because he… _no_. Letter. Koji. Focus. I sat down on the couch, and opened the box. Inside was an envelope and a small round container on a necklace. I took out the envelope, and open it with my claw. I took out the letter, and began reading.

_“Toriel—_  
_If you’re reading this, it means either you came back yourself or Asgore worked up the courage to talk to you. Either way, I’m glad you’ve decided to join the kingdom again._  
_It also means that I’m dead. I wish that I had gotten to see you again. I’ve asked Asgore to go talk to you but he’s always refused. He always says that ‘If Tori wanted to talk to me, then she’d come out.’ He… seems to have forgotten how stubborn you are. Speaking of Asgore, he’s been near inconsolable. He spends a lot of time in his room, so much that Fumi and I asked Gaster to start checking on him regularly to make sure he’s alright. I’m telling you this because… well… Asgore may not be bold enough to tell you, but I’m dead, so you can’t be mad at me, so I have no reason not to tell you._  
_You really need to work on your damn stubbornness because it broke the last bit of your family you had._  
_I know you and Asgore were grieving your children, but I didn’t know just how much grief ruined you two. I never thought anything would even get you two mad at each other, and yet, as I write this, you’ve locked yourself in the Ruins, and Asgore’s took two souls that he didn’t want to. It’s hard to see my friend, my always positive, always welcoming King sulking in his room because of all he lost. It’s hard to imagine you, such a caring, warm Queen hiding in the Ruins, angry at her husband for being angry at the humans for being angry at all of us. I love you, Toriel, but gods damnit you’re making it hard not to just walk out of my bed, stomp through the forest, go into the Ruins, and slap you back into reality and your husband’s fluffy arms._  
_Your husband’s incredibly hot and incredibly sweet, why the fuck did you give that up? He’s absolutely broken without you. He needs you, Toriel. He needs you to help him run the kingdom. He needs you to keep him reasonable. He needs you to reassure him that it’ll be ok._  
_He needs you._  
_You need him, too. You need him to break you out of your stubbornness. You need him to keep you relaxed. You need him to tell you that it’s going to be alright._  
_You need him._  
_You two need each other. You’re the closest couple I’ve ever seen in my life. It’d be a shame if that got broken up because your kids died on you. I hope that, even if I can’t see it, my friends will be happy again. Together._  
_Of course, it’s entirely possible that you reading this after forgiving Asgore and getting back together with him. If that’s the case, well, ignore that whole part._  
_And in any situation of your return, if he hasn’t joined me yet, then watch over Fumi for me, ok? Losing me is going to be hard on him, and I know you understand that. I love you, Toriel. You were an amazing friend when you were here. Bake me a pie, ok? Apple, like Fumi likes._  
_Sincerely, Koji Tokoda. 07/07/2026.”_

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

I clutched the letter, my eyes watering. He certainly tried to keep it informal and light, but he really struck a chord. He was right. I needed him. I as much as I tried to fight it when I was mad at him, I need Asgore. I need my Fluffybuns. In a few hours, just being with him completely dissipated all my anger. Was I ever even angry at him? I stood up and folded the letter, placing it back in the box, and I walked over to our room. 

“Gorey, dear?” I opened the door and peeked in. Asgore was sitting on our bed, clutching a letter, crying. “Asgore!” I sat down on the bed next to him and took his cheek with my free hand. “Are you alright, dear?” 

“Yes, yes, it’s just…” He waved the letter around and laughed. “Koji wrote that I was worrying about you still being mad at me way too much.” He smirked and shook his head, then turned to me. “He was certainly right about that.”

“He went on a whole spiel about how how I should really just get back with you before, I assume, he realized that probably already happened if I was reading it.” I laughed and rested my chin on Asgore’s shoulder. “If Koji was anything, he was silly like that.”

“He was, wasn’t he?” He took his paw and began rubbing the back of my head. “Anything else in yours?”

“He told me to keep an eye on Fumi and to bake him a pie.” I sighed. “Well, I’ve checked in with Fumi. I’ll make him a pie later.”

“Aww, sweet. Did you notice the necklace?” I perked up. 

“Oh, yes, what is that?”

“The little container holds some of his dust. He wanted it to be split up between you, Fumi, and I so that we could keep him close. I don’t always have mine, but it’s kind of… nice to see it sometimes.”

“Aww… That’s sweet.” I leaned back against him and took mine out of the box, looking at it carefully. Part of my friend is in here. This is one of 3 parts of what remains of him. I felt so bad for missing his death. For not being there. For not being able to help him. I clutched it, and held it against my chest. “I’m sorry, Koji. I love you too.” Asgore kissed my forehead. 

“He wasn’t… isn’t mad at you for not being there. He made sure I knew that. He wanted me to tell you.”

“Oh, I figured he wouldn’t be. He didn’t really get mad, did he?”

“The few times I remember it was because someone has wronged Fumi, and he was mad at them for hurting his birdfriend.” We laughed together.

“Oh yes, remember when someone called Fumi ‘bird brain’? He looked like he was going to fight them.”

“Yeah! And Fumi had to hold him back and tell him that he wasn’t hurt by it. Kinda like when someone said—” Asgore and I spent the next quarter of an hour just talking, reminiscing on our friend’s life. It was nice to remember him, to remember all the times he did something silly, or when he wrote his first story, or whatever. By the end, we were just messing with each other and playing around. It was nice, to just be so purely happy with him, to just be laughing and hugging my favorite person in the universe. My Asgore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit, it’s a wild POV change! This chapter had to be from Toriel’s POV for obvious reasons, so I decided to make the switch (and I think i’m gonna keep it for a while, maybe I’ll switch every 6 chapters)  
> I had to disrupt the fluff with angst, I’m so sorry. There’s some fluff at the end just to cheer you up though! <3  
> Comments are appreciated!


	8. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asgore tells Toriel about the 3 humans who’ve fallen since their child.

Gods, did I miss Asgore’s hugs. There was nothing better than feeling his warm, fluffy body against me, with those big, muscly arms… regardless, we were cuddling on our bed for a while after I read Koji’s letter. For a while, we were fairly quiet outside of our giggles and nickname calling, but soon something began creeping up in my mind. Asgore must have noticed, because he sat up and looked at me with concern.

“Toriel? Is everything alright?” 

“No… I’m just… I want to know.”

“Know what?”

“What did you do with the bodies?” Asgore tensed up and looked away.

“They’re… downstairs. I had coffins made for them. I… I put flowers on them, sometimes.” He sighed. “Do you want… to see them, or…?”

“Y...yes.”

“Alright, follow me then.” He stood up and held out his paw. “It’s time I put new flowers there, anyway.” I took his paw and stood up. We walked into the hallway, and down into the path to the throne room. I squeezed his paw a few times, and he squeezed back. When we rounded the corner into the throne room, I took a deep breath. The ground was covered in golden flowers, with his throne in the center. Off to the corner, a sheet covered what I assumed was my throne.

“Gods, Gorey… the flowers look beautiful…” He chuckled sheepishly. 

“Thanks. They’re from the seeds that Chara’s body brought back from the surface, so I think of them as a memorial to them.” I let go of his hand and walked into the small flowery meadow, wandering over to the sheet-covered throne. 

“I think they would appreciate it… and I guess you don’t need this sheet anymore, do you?”

“No, I think not. Mind taking it off for me?”

“Of course dear.” I pulled it off, and took a sharp breath. My crown sat on the seat of the throne, still neatly polished and shiny. “How is it… so clean?”  
“I polish it every month. Just in case you ever came back. Do you want to… put it on?” I laughed and picked it up.

“Yes, Asgore, I’m the queen, aren’t I?” Asgore came up behind me and took my other paw. 

“Well then, reclaim your throne!” I smiled and put on my crown, then sat down on the throne.

“Gods… it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Asgore chuckled and bowed.

“Welcome back, my Queen.”

“Ah, thank you, my King.” I stood up. “Shouldn’t we move it back to center next to yours?”

“Oh yes, that would be a good idea.” We picked the throne up and brought it over next to Asgore’s. When we set it down, we stepped back to look at the two of them together.

“It looks right, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it does.” He smiled. “I… I shall get some flowers for the coffins, alright?” I nodded, and he walked over to a denser patch of flowers and picked a few. 

“Ready?”

“Ready. Follow me.” He walked out and to the left, and I followed. We walked down a long staircase and turned a corner. Inside the room were 4 coffins, one each with a red, orange, yellow, and green heart. 

“F… four? There have only been three, right?”

“Three since Chara. The fourth is theirs.” He stood close to me and began rubbing my back. 

“Oh… oh Chara…” I knelt down and touched their coffin. My child… my Chara…

“Do… do you need a minute alone, Tori?” 

“No, please don’t go…” I could feel my eyes begin watering. Asgore knelt down next to me and placed some flowers on the coffin before going to comfort me. He stopped his arm in mid-air, however, and faltered.

“T… Tori...Toriel… do you want to know… how they died?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Do you want to… look at me, or…?” I nodded, and turned my body to him. He turned back toward me, and took my chin, raising my eyes to meet his. I brushed the hair out of his face, and saw that his eyes were tearing up as well. 

“Asgore, you don’t need to if they don’t want to.”

“No, no, you deserve to know.” He sighed, and began his story.  
“The first fell two years after the kids died. I ran into him in Snowdin. I had just been talking with Fumi and Koji, and as I was walking back, he punched me with his gloved hand.” He laughed weakly. “Not sure what you told him about me, but he certainly was brave to come up to me and start punching me. I walked him up to the castle, and told him our story. I didn’t tell him I had to… kill… him until we made it there. He didn’t take too kindly to that, and golly did he put up a fight. But he was the first. It hurt, so much, to do that to him. To think that that was only the _first,_ that I had to do it _six_ more times.” He leaned over and placed some more flowers on the second coffin.  
“I spent the next few years talking with Gaster about it. He had already made one soul container, and was working on the next few. We tried as hard as we could to think of a better plan, but there was always some drawback.”

 

“What about our plan? To let them age and wait until they would die naturally?”

“We considered it, but it seems like too much time would be wasted and that someone may try to end them early. I don’t worry of that now, knowing you’re here to help, but Gaster seemed to… not enjoy that idea.”

“You really will have to let me talk to him at some point.”

“Yes, alright dear, but may I return to the story?”

“Oh, yes, yes, right.”

“Thank you. Alright, so the second human, a few years later, he actually spent a decent amount of time walking around. He had actually begun making friends, when a guard found him in the dump and brought him to me. He had the most adorable little cowboy costume, didn’t he? He seemed to be a bit older than Chara was, for when he met me… he told me about how he had heard our story and that… he wanted to sacrifice himself. He said it was only justice, after all humans had done to monsters. He seemed so noble… and he wanted an honorable death, to help his friends…” his voice broke, and the tears began flowing down his face. “He _wanted_ me to kill him, and yet… it hurt… I felt… _so awful_... I was near inconsolable for days… Gaster had to drag me out of bed so I didn’t just stay there forever.” He leaned over to place some flowers on the third coffin. When he turned back to me, I wiped the tears out of his face.

“Gorey… Are you sure you want to continue?”

“Yes, Tori. It… feels good to tell you, in a way.”

“Okay… but stop if you need to, ok?”

“I will.” He sighed and brushed his hair out of his face. “The third was the oldest, and fell around four years ago. She was a teenage girl, and I think she wanted to be a cook, because when I first heard of her, she was making Gerson breakfast. I went to go get her, but I ran into her in Hotland. She was so kind to me, even though she knew what was coming. She knew what I had done, and yet… she was happy to come with me to New Home. We even had lunch, I made tea, and she made grilled cheese. It was quite good, too.” He chuckled sadly. “She told me that… she was ok with dying so that her friends could be free. She…” He began laughing again. “She actually said that she hoped that we would reconcile, because it sounded like we were a really cute couple.”

“Seriously?” I smiled and laughed. “Well, she got her wish, didn’t she?”

“I guess she did! It’s… probably the most we could do to honor her.” He waited until his laughter faded, then continued. “Anyway, she sacrificed herself as well. She looked almost… happy when she died. I… feel like she would have been an amazing daughter…. if only we had… If I hadn’t….” He took a deep breath, and placed the last flowers on the fourth coffin.

“Asgore… I… never knew…” 

“Of course you didn’t. You were too busy moping in the Ruins.” I felt hurt for a second, but he was right about it.

“I… I know. I’m so sorry… for hurting you… and leaving you here, to do… this, by yourself.”

“Toriel, it’s okay. I’m not mad at you. You’re here now, correct? That’s what matters to me. We’re going to move forward together.” He took my paws in his and squeezed them. “Right?”

“Yeah… right.” I squeezed back. “We’re going to do this together. Come on, let’s… leave here.”

“Yes, that would be good, wouldn’t it?” We stood up, and walked back up to the throne room corridor together. 

“So, should we go home? We should probably discuss our speech for tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes, let’s do that. We can do some more fun things, as well~” He smirked and winked at me.

“Oh, are we going to play some more Switch games?” I said sarcastically. 

“Oh, of course! Maybe we can even do some nose nuzzling, eh?” He laughed.

“I’d _love_ to nose nuzzle you, Fluffybuns~” I slipped some seductiveness into my voice. 

“Oh ho ho, I cannot wait, Tori.” He smiled, and we walked down to New Home. We entered the living room, planning on relaxing on the couch, but we were interrupted by—

“Asgore, where the hell are you?! Where’d you go, you were supposed to meet with me and—” Gaster turned toward us. “TORIEL?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who it is! The mystery man himself!  
> (Nuzzleblocking Asgore, how rude of him)  
> He’s gonna be important from now on, so be prepared.
> 
> As for the humans, we now know the stories of the first four to fall. Half down, half to go. When will the next one fall? 
> 
> Comments are always appreciated!


	9. The Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asgore and Toriel discuss the present, and also Gaster.

“Oh, hello! You’re Gaster, aren’t you?” I held out my paw for him.

“Where the _hell_ did you come from? You’ve been gone for fifteen years, and you just show up like it’s nothing?” His voice was slightly angry, and Asgore seemed surprised.

“Gaster! She didn’t just _show_ up! I went and talked to her, and she came back with me.”

“All today? Gods, of _course_ you’d forgive her that fast.” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“What… whatever do you mean?”

“Gaster…” Asgore said, somewhat as a warning.

“What do I mean? I mean that you leaving made him _miserable._ ”

“Gaster…” Asgore repeated, in a harsher tone. 

“Of course you wouldn’t know, but I had to occasionally check on him to make sure he didn’t _KILL HIMSELF_ because he lost his whole family in a week, with the last one leaving him in a fit of rage?” 

“I… I…” I stuttered, trying to think of what to say to him. 

“GASTER! That. Is. _Enough._ ” Asgore shouted and silenced Gaster. “She’s realized what she did wrong. I have forgiven her. She forgave me. You will _not_ shout at my wife, Gaster.” Gaster furrowed his brow and sighed, adjusting his glasses.

“Asgore… don’t be so hard on him… he’s right…” He turned to me and took my cheek in his paw. 

“Tori… he may be right, but he doesn’t need to be so _rude_ about it!” 

“Why don’t I!? She hurt you, and it worries me that you were so quick to forgive her!”

“Gaster!”

“But what if he’s _right,_ Asgore? What if I hurt you again?”

“I don’t know, Toriel! I don’t think you will, since we’re not dealing with intense grief, currently! I don’t want to worry about that! I just want to be happy, okay? Golly, I finally get you back and my friend can’t even be happy about it…” He sniffled and plopped his head on my shoulder. “I just wanna be happy…”

“Hey, hey, it’s alright, Asgore. It’s gonna be okay, dear.” I ran my paw up and down the back of his head to comfort him. I shot a glare at Gaster, and his angry face broke.

“Az… Asgore, I…” Gaster stuttered and reached out to him.

“Okay, okay, let’s try this again.” Asgore stood up and brushed his mane out of his face. “Let’s all sit down, and I’ll tell you what happened, alright, Gaster?”

“Fine, fine.” We walked over and sat down, and Asgore took a deep breath.

“Okay, Gaster, listen. Earlier, I was talking to Gerson. He suggested I go talk to Toriel, and it finally encouraged me to do it. I went over to the Ruins, and we talked it out. We forgave each other, and we developed a new plan for the future. We decided that we’re together again, and we came back up here. That’s what’s happened. She knows how much she hurt me, and she feels awful about it. You don’t need to make her feel worse.” Gaster paused for a moment.

“Fine, your majesty. I… I guess you won’t need me to check up on you anymore?”

“No, I won’t. You can still come for tea whenever you want, though!” He smiled at Gaster in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“That sounds… wonderful.” He looks away, and I swear I could see him blushing, but then he shook his head and looked back at Asgore. “Anyway, as I came here to tell you, the CORE’s almost finished. It should only take about another two months.”

“Two months? You said last week it would be six months. Have you… Gaster!” 

“What?”

“I told you not to pull all nighters anymore! You need to sleep!” 

“I’m fine, Asgore! I need to get this done, and clearly I’m doing well enough without sleep!”

“No, you aren’t! That’s why you snapped, wasn’t it? You’re not doing well, you’re sleep deprived!” Gaster stood up quickly.

“No, I’m not! I’m fine!”

“You don’t _seem_ fine, Gaster…” I added. He sighed and pressed his face against his palm. 

“Fine, fine, I’m sleep deprived. But I need to finish the CORE.” 

“You don’t need to rush it! You’re going to make a mistake if you’re working without having slept for a week!” Asgore went over and picked up Gaster. “Come on, I’m bringing you to your bed.” Gaster blushed furiously and struggled against Asgore’s grip.

“Uh, th..thank you your majesty, but I can get back to my house just fine–”

“No, you’re just going to go back to your lab! I am bringing you back home!” He sighed and turned to me. “Sorry about this Tori, I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” I nodded. “Good, now let’s get you home, Gaster.” Gaster sighed and finally stopped struggling. 

“Fiiiinnnnneeeee.”

“See you in a bit, Gorey.” I smiled slightly, feeling very awkward as a bystander to this interaction.

“See you in a bit, Tori!” He smiled and walked out of the room, carrying Gaster in one arm. 

I sat down on the couch and did nothing for a few seconds before realizing I had no idea what to do while I waited. I remembered that the pie had made was still half uneaten, so I decided to go have some. I went to the kitchen, cut myself a piece, and sat down at the table to eat it. As I ate, it really hit me how out of place I felt in New Home now. I never felt like I didn’t have anything to do here before, but after being gone for so long, I wasn’t sure what I could do. Had it even been that long? Fifteen years… that’s not even a sixtieth of my life, and yet… it felt like forever. What will the people think of me? Will they be mad at me for abandoning them? Will they want me back? Will I want to be back? Will I enjoy being back? Will I—

“Sneak hug!” Asgore yelled and hugged me from behind. I jumped a bit and laughed. He must have snuck in while I was deep in thought. 

“Gods, dear, you scared me!”

“Oh, sorry, Toriel.” He nuzzled my shoulder and whimpered quietly. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Aww, it’s alright, Gorey!” I nuzzled back against his muzzle. “Soft royal hugs make up for it.”

“Good.” He smiled. “So, I brought Gaster home, so now we can work on our speech.” He let go of me and sat down across from me. “What should we say?”

“I…” I paused for a second. “I don’t know if we should do it. I don’t know if people will be happy I’m back. They didn’t even recognize me in Snowdin, and it’s only been 15 years, will they even know who I am?”

“Toriel, the people who talked to in Snowdin were mostly fairly young. The ones who chill outside like that are usually teenagers. Oh, hey, chill, get it?!” He laughed at his accidental pun, which made me giggle a little. 

“Yes, dear, I got it.”

“Anyway, most people will know who you are! You’re their Queen, dear, they’ll be delighted to have you back!” 

“But what if some don’t? What if some are like Gaster? What if they’ll be mad at me for hurting you and abandoning them? What if they’re gonna attack me?” I buried my face in my palms. “There’s just so much that can go wrong, and—”

“Toriel.” Asgore grabbed my paw and held it in both of his. “Relax. It’s going to be okay, Tori. I’m sure most people will be happy you came back. If anyone tries to attack you, I’ll protect you, alright?” He smiled at me reassuringly. “No one hurts my Tori.” I smiled back.

“Your Tori… right. That’s what I am.” I grabbed his paw with my free one. “And you’re my Gorey.”

“Your Gorey forever, dear.” I nodded.

“Alright. Let’s fucking write a speech.” He laughed.

“That’s the Tori I know and love!”   
We spent the next hour or so writing up a speech about our plan. We were fairly efficient, considering how we spent half the time joking with each other. It felt good, to be back in the governing business. Asgore and I were a good team for speech writing, it was something we got very good at after 850 years of being diarchs. Once we were done, Asgore left to go tell the royal messenger that there would be a royal address tomorrow. He insisted he go alone, to keep the surprise for everyone else. He winked as he said it, too. Gods, was he adorable when he winks. When he got back, we realized it was getting late, so we decided to head to our room. We spent another half hour just talking, and by the time we were actually cuddled together in bed we were too tired to really do anything but sleep. He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, and I snuggled into his neck.

“Good night, Tori.”

“Good night, Gorey.”

“Welcome back. I love you, dear.”

“I love you more, dearer.” He laughed gently.

“I love you the most, dearest!” I joined in on his laughter.

“Alright, alright, you win.”

“Hah, yes!” He squeezed me tightly. “Gods, it’s so weird to sleep with you again. I missed you so much.”

“I missed this too.” I leaned in and kissed his neck. “That as well.” 

“Oh ho ho! I missed that too, gods…” 

“Weren’t we going to sleep?”

“Oh yeah, we were. Let’s do that.”

“Good night, for real this time.”

“Good night, for real.” The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was Asgore rubbing his paw up and down my back, holding me tightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the (on average) monthly update is here! The end is a bit rushed because I started this last month and then forgot to finish it (whoops) but it's cute enough to make up for it hopefully! Thanks for reading! Comments appreciated!


	10. The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toriel and Asgore discuss the future, and give their speech about their plans. Also, fluff.

Waking up with Toriel in my arms for the first time in years may have been one of the best feelings in my life. Pushing through my sleepiness to see her, nuzzled against my chest, breathing softly, was so reassuring. After so many years waking up alone, feeling like the loneliest man in the Underground, having my wife, my Toriel, back in my embrace… it was wonderful. She was still asleep when I woke up, and I didn’t dare get up and risk waking her up. I ran my fingers through the longer fur on the back of her head, twirling it around. I nuzzled her forehead, smiling softly as I waited for her to wake up. 

“Gods, I missed you, Tori. You’re so beautiful in the morning…” I sighed. “One day the sunrise will shine on you again. I promise, dear.”

“Aww, thanks, Gorey.” I jumped a little in surprise, and Toriel giggled weakly. “Oh, did I spook you? Sorry, love.” 

“N...yes, you did. Good morning, Toriel.” She laughed again, lifted her head off my chest, and kissed my cheek. 

“Good morning, Asgore. Gods, I missed saying that. I missed you, really.” She sat her snout on my shoulder. “We’ve been saying that a lot, hunh?”

“Yes, we have. Almost like we hadn’t talked for 15 years until yesterday.” I laughed. “Gods we should never do that again.”

“Yeah, good idea. Not talking to you for 15 years was a horrible idea.”

“I’ll remind you that you would have kept doing it indefinitely had I not been pushed to go talk to you.”

“Shh, that ruins my point.” We laughed, and I began rubbing her back gently. “Oh… mmm… is that your apology for reminding me of my idiocy?”

“Uh, if you want it to be?” I shrugged. “I just want to make you feel loved.” 

“Aww, I feel it just from being in your arms.” She sighed. “I’d say I could stay here forever if I wasn’t hungry, but alas. Do you have breakfast supplies?” 

“I think I have pancake mix? We can make that.” Toriel slid out of my arms and sat up, feet over the bed. 

“Yeah, I can work with that. I’ll handle breakfast, alright? You just relax, okay?” She stood up and began stretching the sleepiness away. 

“Thanks, dear! Are you gonna get dressed, though?” 

“Oh, uh… did you keep all my clothes?” 

“No, Tori, I burned them all.” I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Yeah, they’re in the closet, next to the trophy.” 

“Trophy?” She looked around, and then noticed the silver trophy next to the wall closet. “Oh! Oh, is that our… our nose nuzzling championship trophy?” I blushed and nodded, rubbing the back of my head. 

“Yeah, I felt too bad to put it in the study with the rest of your stuff. It… it reminded me that… that we were happy, I guess?” I laughed. “You know what? I think I was just lazy.” 

“Gods that’s depressing, Asgore. But thanks for keeping it!” She smiled and opened the closet, shuffling through it to pick an outfit. “Do you think I should wear another robe, or something else?” 

“Well, we’re giving the speech, so I’d say robe.” 

“Got it.” She picked one out from the closet, and closed it. “I’m gonna take a shower, then I’ll go make breakfast. If you’re not up, I’ll come get you, okay?”

“Alright, Tori. Love you dear~” She laughed and blew me a kiss. 

“Love you too, Gorey dear~” I blew her another kiss back, and then she left the room. 

I sat up and looked around my room. Damn, my room was very… grey. Was it always this grey? I should really make it more colorful than one golden flower. Perhaps Tori and I should repaint it. Purple, maybe. No, green. For Asriel. I sighed, and slid out of bed. I sat down at my desk. I had been writing diary entries every night since Tori left. Yesterday was the first time I missed it in months. Looking through them was… sad. A lot of them were just one sentence. “Today was a good day.” It was a vain attempt to tell myself I was okay. Gods, I was pathetic. I picked up my pen, and began writing.

_“October 1st, 2030. Today was really a good day. Toriel and I made up! She’s just as beautiful as she was before she left. It’s wonderful loving her, hugging her, kissing her adorable face… I wonder if I’m too dependent on her for happiness. Maybe it’s just because it’s been so long? I don’t know._  
_I just know that I never want to be away from her that long ever again. I love her with all my soul. I will cherish her for the rest of our lives. One day, we’ll see the sun again, but for me? She is my sun. And I am hers. We’ll work together, whatever happens, and we’ll get through this. For now, I won’t be needing this diary. So, for now… This is the last. I’m moving on._  
_~Asgore Dreemurr.”_

I closed the diary and put down the pen. That felt... good. I heard the shower turn off across the hall. Toriel must have finished. I decided to go take one myself after she started breakfast. I probably smelled awful, I hadn’t been able to work up the energy to shower for a while. I took off my clothes, and rummaged through my closet for the royal regalia. I hadn’t been wearing it very often, so it was buried pretty far in. I set the armor aside next to the bed, and took the undershirt and pants. When I picked up my shirt, two gloves fell out. Damn, they were my fingerless ones. Tori always liked those, which is assumedly why I had stuffed them in my shirt. I decided to wear them for her, as a little favor. I picked them up and peeked out of the bedroom. I heard Tori humming in the bathroom, so I slid back inside. I put my clothes down on my desk and looked around for something to do. My armor was looking a bit dirty, so I took a cloth out of the desk and kneeled down to polish it. This armor had seen a lot in its time. I remember when I first received it from the royal blacksmiths on my 20th birthday. My parents looked so proud when I put it on for the first time. Toriel and Gerson were more flustered, judging by how they were blushing. I chuckled as I moved from the arm guards to the breastplate. I passed over a scratch on the shoulder, from a sparring match with my father, the first time I defeated him without him going easy on me. Another on the chest, where a human soldier had stabbed me while defending Toriel during the war. One on the side, where Asriel had headbutted me when he first got his horns. I had been offered new armor a few times over the years, but I could never accept. This armor has been through almost everything I have. It hasn’t failed me yet, and it holds memories I never want to forget. I snapped out of my memories when I hear Toriel calling.

“Gorey dear! Where’s the pancake mix?”

“It should be in the far left cabinet! Above the fridge!” There was a pause, then she responded.

“Oh, there it is! Thank you!”

“No problem, love!” I stood up, grabbed my clothes and peeked out of the room again. Her humming was coming from the kitchen, so I figured it was safe to slip over to the bathroom. I quickly walked into the room, and turned the shower on. I took a quick shower, as to not delay breakfast. I snapped to burn the water away (drying it normally took seemingly hours) and put my mane into a bun. I slipped into the under clothes and opened the door, hitting something when I did. 

“Ow! Oh, there you are, Gorey! You took a shower?”

“Sorry, but, yeah! I did. I… did you not hear the shower?”

“I… didn’t. I was busy with breakfast. Which is finished!” She smiled and grabbed my paw. “Come on, I’m hungry.” I chuckled and kissed her cheek. 

“I am too, dear. Lead the way, Tori.” She laughed and pulled me to the table. 

“Forgot how good you look with a bun, too. So handsome, my king~”

“Oh, have you even noticed my paws?” She turned back and looked down at my gloves.

“Gods, you trying to get to me this early? We do have something to do today, if you remember.”

“Sorry, I just want to show off a little for my queen! It’s been a while since I’ve been able too, I have a lot to make up for, don’t I?” I let go of her paw, and hugged her from behind, nuzzling the top of her head. 

“Oh, Gorey…” She nuzzled back, careful not to let her horns stab me. “You know, I have a lot to make up for as well, dear. But not today. Serious mode today, alright?” 

“Ah, alright. Now, pancake time?”

“Yes, pancake time.”

We sat down to eat our pancakes, which we did (eventually). We spent a lot of the time just talking and teasing each other. It was something we hadn’t done since before Asriel was born, and it felt so… nice. When we finished, I went back in my room to slide into my armor. I needed Toriel’s help with the pauldrons, so I had to awkwardly shuffle into the living room with them half on. She chuckled and adjusted them, attaching my cape for me as well so I didn’t have to spend 15 minutes badly trying to attach it to the clips on the shoulder. We put our crowns on together, and were running through our speech when there was a knock on the door. I stood up and went over to the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Gaster, your ma… Asgore.”

“Oh! Howdy, Gaster, come on in!” Toriel stood up and looked over.

“Is he going to yell again?”

“Nah, he sounds calmer.” Gaster walked in through the door, glasses askew, lab coat unbuttoned, and slammed his face against my chest. 

“I’m sorry Asgore. I was a dick yesterday. You’re right, I was really sleep deprived, and I was just being dumb, and I’m sorry, and oh my gods you have a bun and–”

“Gaster. Relax. I’m not mad at you.”

“You… you’re not?” I chuckled and rubbed his back.

“I’m not. You weren’t at your best, Gaster, I don’t blame you for being a bit crazy. Besides, you were partially right. Toriel’s return was sudden. But I’m glad she’s back. I hope you can be nicer to her, okay?”

‘I’m not mad at you either, Gaster!” Toriel walked forward as she spoke. 

“Oh… Th… thank you, your majesties. Asgore and Toriel. Mr. and Mrs. Dreemurr.”

“First names are fine, Gaster. I trust you, ya nerd.” I smiled at him encouragingly.

“Oh… uh… so, I came to ask you two, uh, are you ready for the speech?”

“Oh, yes, we were actually practicing just now! How much time do we have? Are people on their way?”

“About half an hour. A few have begun to show up, but judging by what I’ve heard around town, I think most of the Underground will be there.”

“Oh boy. Most of them?” Toriel sighed. “You sure they’ll be happy to see me again?”

“Of course they will be, dear.” I turned and kissed her snout. “Who wouldn’t be?” 

“Me?” Gaster laughed and stepped back. “Gods I really was an idiot.”

“Well since you aren’t out for my soul now, I forgive you.” Toriel held out her hand. 

“A… apology accepted, Toriel. I… uh.. that’s all. I’m going to go do some lab checks before the speech. Be back in a bit!” He blushed, nervously grabbed the door handle, and left. 

“Well.” Toriel sighed and hugged my arm. “That was… weird.” I laughed and ran my paw through my mane. 

“Yeah, he can be like that. You get used to it, after a while.” 

“He certainly is very easily flustered.” 

“I think he’s just not very used to affection. He seems to think I’m some big scary guy who’s going to have him executed if he messes up. Not sure where he got that idea, though.”

“You are nice to him, right?”

“Of course. He kept me going for the past few years. I wish he would take as good care of himself as he does of me…” 

“Aww… that’s kinda sad.”

“Yeah, well, now that you can help me, we can help him!” I smiled at her, and she laughed.

“Your ability to want to help everyone ever is adorable, honey.” 

“Hey! Are you mocking me?” I fake pouted.

“No! I’m serious! It’s good that you wanna help everyone!” She pouted back. “I would never mock you.”

“I don’t believe that, but luckily for you, you’re so cute that I’ll let you mock me whenever you want.” I pulled her into a hug and kissed her all around her face. She laughed and blushed furiously.

“Gorey! That tickles! Dear!” She smirked and started kissing me back. “How do you like it?”  
“It’s wonderful, Tori! I love getting kisses from my BEAUTIFUL WI–” At that point, she kissed me on the mouth, shutting me up. She pushed me against the wall, smiling deviously. When she pulled away, we were both breathing hard.

“Okay, that was fun. But we do have somewhere to be in not very long, so we should head to the balcony.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” I sighed. “Gods we need to do that more. It’s really hot.”

“Of fucking course it is, we’re the hottest damn couple in the underground.” She chuckled. “So hot I start swearing more.”

“Swearing is pretty hot, that’s why.” I laughed. “Should I take my bun down before we…?”

“Yeah, you should. The bun’s for friends and family only.” Toriel smirked. “Can’t let everyone know how hot you can be.” 

“Ah, fair point.” I laughed and pulled my bun down. I took the ribbon I had tied it up with and made a bow on Toriel’s horn. “There! Now everyone will know you’re a gift!”

“Gods, you are adorable, Fluffybuns.” She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. “Why did I get so mad at you again?”

“Because I was grieving our kids and decided to kill people?”

“Oh yeah. And why did I think you were actually going to enjoy that or something?”

“Don’t ask me, Tori! I guess I looked scary because I was mad?”

“Yeah. That must have been it. Glad you got me over that, dear.”

“No problem, Toriel. I benefit from it too, ya know.”

“True, dear. Now, speech time.”

“Yes. That.” We walked up to the balcony, my paw squeezing hers. “You ready to be back, Toriel?”

“Ye.. yes. I am.” She sighed. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Aw, don’t worry my Queen.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “It’s gonna be okay. We have each other again, after all.”

“Right. I have you.” She took a deep breath and squeezed my paw. “And you have me. Alright, let’s go.” We began to walk out when I had an idea and stopped her.

“Oh, oh! Stay behind me until I gesture, okay? So it’s like a surprise!” Toriel laughed and let go of my paw.

“I like it! Big reveal, hunh?”

“Yeah! Really surprise them!”

“Got it. I’ll wait here. See you in a few!” I nodded.

“See ya in a few!” I smiled at her, then stepped out onto the balcony. I looked over the crowd that had gathered. I saw Fumi leaning against a wall in the back talking to Gerson, his old black jacket draped over his arms. Whenever I asked him why he still wears it, he would always say that he felt “cool” in it. I chuckled. 77 years old and he still wanted to look cool. Opposite him, on the other side of the back, Gaster was frantically writing in a notebook, glancing up every so often. I saw that there were still some more monsters walking in, so I decided to give them some time. I waited for a few minutes, continuing to scan the crowd, until the line of people entering dried up. I stepped forward and turned on the microphone that was attached to ledge, and gave it a tap. The feedback noise was loud enough to get everyone’s attention, causing them all to look up at me. I laughed and began talking.

“Hello, everyone! I’m your king, Asgore Dreemurr, but you all know that. I’ve decided to give a surprise address today for a very good reason. As you all know, after the prince and pricen… died… my wife and queen left the capital. I had declared war on the humans, deciding to take their souls to free us. I know that you all supported that idea, but after three humans, I can no longer bear this burden. I have been alone, tired and guilty for years. I cannot kill anyone else, even for the good of you all.” I sighed. “But do not worry for me. I have good news. After a decade and a half, Queen Toriel has returned!” I motioned behind me, and Toriel came outside. She stood next to me and waved. A cheer rose up from the crowd, and she beamed while waiting for it to die down.

“Hello, everyone! I missed you all so much, and I’m sorry for abandoning you all. I was grieving my children, and I ran away from my problems. But now, I’m back, and I will not turn my back on you ever again. That’s a promise from your queen. But now that I’m back, Asgore and I have decided on a new plan for escape moving forward. We will no longer kill the humans that fall. We will raise them, and take them in as our own. We will let them live their lives down here, and only once they die naturally will we take their souls.” The crowd began murmuring, so I leaned over and took the mic.

“Shh, quiet, everyone. I know it seems slow, but I’d rather we wait an extra few decades to escape rather than continue killing the innocent humans who fall down.”

“But they aren’t innocent!” a voice called from the crowd. “They trapped us down here! They murdered our prince!”

“Do you think I do not know? I have suffered more because of humans than nearly anyone here. I refuse to continue pretending that they are all bad because of that. Princen Chara proved that. To stereotype them all makes us no better than the ones who trapped us here. We will treat all humans with respect until they prove themselves unworthy of such.” Toriel tapped my shoulder, so I stepped aside to give her the mic. 

“We will protect anyone who needs it. If a human falls down here, they likely require protection. They may be lost, lonely, or worse. If they fall, they cannot go home. They need to be cared for here. That is what we will do. If they truly are angry at us, it is likely out of fear. We will let them get used to life here. If they continue to be dangerous, then we will deal with it accordingly. I doubt that will happen, though. Please, treat them with kindness. I want them to be happy. I want them to be _willing_ to help save us. If we show them who we are, they will probably be happy to help free us after they die.” Toriel stepped back. 

“This plan is final. It’s the best option to free us without unnecessary pain. We will be free one day, and this is how we will get there. We will see the sun again, but I will not kill to get there. Toriel and I are serious on this. We will do this peacefully. That is the way of monsters. That is the way of our kingdom. For monsters!” I raised my paw to the air, and everyone yelled and did the same. Toriel chuckled and did the same, nuzzling up next to me. 

“That always works, doesn’t it?” She whispered to me.

“Of course it does. They love themselves, don’t they?”

“Hey. There’s a lot to enjoy about being a monster.”

“Heh. Yeah. To the future of monsters we go, my Queen.” I kissed her cheek. She chuckled and kissed me back.

“To our future, King Fluffybuns. Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH this is the longest chapter so far by like, a lot. Sorry this took so long! I got busy with stuff, ya know? This chapter is gonna be the last in this story alone, after this, we move on in the series to another one. What's coming next? More fluff, of course.  
> Other things too but what's more important that that raw asgoriel fluff? 
> 
> Comments appreciated! (Read: I like validation lol)


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